Victoria and Albert Museum

As the world's leading museum of art and design, the V&A enriches people's lives by promoting the practice of design and increasing knowledge, understanding and enjoyment of the designed world.

Venue Type:

Museum

Opening hours

10.00 to 17.45 daily10.00 to 22.00 Fridays (selected galleries remain open after 18.00 - please see Gallery Closures for further information)Closing commences 10 minutes before time stated

Closed 24, 25 and 26 December

Admission charges

Admission freeThere may be a charge for some special exhibitions and events

Getting there

London Underground (The Tube): The V&A is a five minute walk from South Kensington underground station (on the Piccadilly, Circle and District Line). South Kensington is a five minute tube journey from Victoria, ten minutes from Covent Garden and Leicester Square and 15 minutes from King's Cross St Pancras.

The V&A is a ten minute walk from Knightsbridge underground station (on the Piccadilly Line). Knightsbridge is a ten minute tube journey from Covent Garden and Leicester Square and 15 minutes from Kings Cross St Pancras.

Bus: Buses C1, 14, 74 and 414 stop outside the Cromwell Road entrance. The Open Tour stop outside the Museum as part of their Double Decker Bus site-seeing tour of London.

Additional info

See website for details

The Victoria and Albert Museum's collections span two thousand years of art in virtually every medium, from many parts of the world, and visitors to the museum encounter a treasure house of amazing and beautiful objects. The Museum was established in 1852, following the enormous success of the Great Exhibition the previous year. Its founding principle was to make works of art available to all, to educate working people and to inspire British designers and manufacturers.

The Museum's ceramics, glass, textiles, dress, silver, ironwork, jewellery, furniture, sculpture, paintings, prints and photographs now span the cultures of Europe, North America, Asia and North Africa, and date from ancient times to the present day.

Although the V&A's collections are international in their scope, they contain many particularly important British works - especially British silver, ceramics, textiles and furniture.

Part of the RIBA Trust's British Architecture Library, a Designated Collection of national importance, is on display at this museum.

The collection provides comprehensive coverage of all aspects of architecture. It is fundamental to the study of architecture in Britain and is nationally and internationally significant.

Key artists and exhibits

The British Galleries 1500-1900 tell the story of British design from the Tudor age to the Victorian era. Fifteen completely refurbished galleries are filled with exhibits reflecting all of the top British designers of the times. The galleries are enhanced by computer interactives, objects to handle, video screens and audio programmes. Highlights include the gigantic Great Bed of Ware (mentioned in Shakespeare's Twelfth Night) and the wedding suit worn by James II. Inspirational, beautiful and unmatched in scope, the British Galleries offer an entirely new visitor experience in a stunning and innovative setting.

Designated Collection

Exhibition details are listed below, you may need to scroll down to see them all.

Exhibition (temporary)

Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains

13 May — 1 October 2017 *on now

The V&A is staging an unprecedented, innovative and multi-sensory journey through Pink Floyd's extraordinary worlds, chronicling the music, design and staging of the band, from their debut in the 60s through to the present day.

The Pink Floyd Exhibition: Their Mortal Remains is the first international retrospective of one of the world's most pioneering and influential bands who are recognised as one of the top selling artists of all time.

Aubrey Powell curates alongside Paula Stainton for Pink Floyd and, for the V&A, a team lead by Senior Curator Victoria Broackes.

the curators have worked in close consultation with Roger Water, David Gilmour and Nick Mason on the content of the exhibition, which will feature over 350 artefacts spanning the band's five decades, alongside material from the V&A's outstanding collection of art, design, architecture and performance.

Admission

Website

Events details are listed below. You may need to scroll down or click on headers to see them all. For events that don't have a specific date see the 'Resources' tab above.

Course or class

Inside the Museum: The V&A's 12 Week Museum Skills Course

6 — 29 September 2017 *on now

Considering a career in galleries and museums? New to the heritage sector and looking to gain valuable practical experience?

This course features a combination of taught sessions and behind the scenes access to the V&A’s collections and practitioners. Drawing upon case studies conducted in the museum, individual sessions will be taught by Specialist V&A staff and will explore the internal workings of the V&A - winner of the Art Fund Museum of the Year 2016.

Inappropriate or mis-handling is one of the most frequent causes of damage to museum collections. This workshop demonstrates the best and safest ways to handle objects. The training focuses on different materials and object types. It addresses display and storage solutions, the use of support materials, the risks of lifting, manipulating and moving, and when to request professional help and also provide an overview of how and why we mark objects with museum numbers.

Admission

£295Concessions: £240

Website

Getting the Most from Digital Media

5 — 6 October 2017 10:30am-4:30pm

The digital revolution has helped museums reach wider audiences more than ever. It has changed how visitors engage with our collections, our buildings and our people. But how do we make sure that digital activity is reaching the right audiences and delivering results? How do we define a vision and a purpose for digital activity? How do we use technology, content and design to tell stories and build experiences that engage our audiences, reflect the brand and help drive income?

Languages

Englsih

Admission

Price: £295Concession: £240

Website

Creating the Visitor Experience

12 — 13 October 2017 10:30am-6:30pm

An increasing amount of people are coming to museums and galleries for an experience, with high expectations of what that should be. As part of the broader visitor attractions market, how can a national museum look after a wide range of visitors and help them enjoy the museum?

Admission

Prince: £295Concessions: £240

Course or class

Cultural Enterprise: Income Generation for Museum and Galleries

18 — 20 October 2017

Cultural organisations are increasingly being tasked with generating income but how we learn how to identify and monetise our assets? Led by specialist staff from the V&A, it considers a selection of core topics such as catering, filming, ticketed events and merchandise.

Admission

Price: £550Concessions: £495

Course or class

Gothic to Goth

21 — 22 October 2017 11am-4pm

From Mary Shelley to Marilyn Manson, the term ‘Gothic’ has been enigmatic, combining horror and romance, darkness and mystery. The Romantic Movement’s rejection of Enlightenment reason embraced the unknown, serving as inspiration for the Goth subculture of the 1980s. This course will trace the influences of the Gothic in art, literature, and fashion, in the work of such artists as Henry Fuseli, Horace Walpole and Alexander McQueen.

Suitable for

18+

Admission

£288 full price, £260 over 60s, £195 concessions

Website

Placing Performance in the Museum

27 October 2017 10:30am-4:30pm

The V&A’s Theatre & Performance collections are an incredible resource that document the history of performing arts, including drama, dance, opera, costume, set design and current practice. Placing performance in museums provides visitors with new ways to interpret the collections.

We will look at how we commission site specific performances and how we programme performance for different audiences whilst managing the practicalities and logistics of working on a historic site.

Admission

Price: £195Concessions: £175

Website

How to Organise an Exhibition

1 — 3 November 2017

Delivered by members of the V&A’s Exhibitions department, the course will use a range of recent V&A exhibitions as case studies to explore the key elements involved with managing an exhibition, from planning and lender liaison, to design development and object installation.

Admission

Price: £550Concessions: £495

Website

The World of Wedgwood

4 — 5 November 2017 11am-4pm

This course will immerse you in the World of Wedgwood, one of the world's most important industrial collections, documenting over 250 years of British ceramics production. Experts from the V&A and Wedgwood will guide you through a comprehensive overview of the firm's unparalleled design and production, including ceramics, manuscripts, and pattern books. Lunch and refreshments are included.

Suitable for

18+

Admission

£288 full price, £260 over 60s, £195 concessions

Website

Small is Beautiful: Miniature Objects and Why We Love Them

4 — 5 November 2017 11am-4pm

From the power of a portrait miniature to the delight inspired by turning a snuff box around in your hands, objects we hold or wear can conjure up strong emotions. Explore and handle a range of masterpieces from the renaissance to the present day and gain a deeper understanding of how these objects were made and why this contributes to their appeal.

Suitable for

18+

Admission

£288 full price, £260 over 60s, £195 concessions

Website

Creating Family Backpacks, Resources & Trails

7 November 2017 10:30am-4:30pm

Join the V&A’s Family Programming team for a detailed insight into the development of award-winning self-led resources and activities for family audiences. Learn about designing and developing backpacks and trails in-house and with external companies as well as creating drop-in activities for large audiences.

Through this hands on course, you will come away with clarity about defining an idea, how to make it happen, the practicalities of managing self-led resources and how to evaluate them.

Admission

Price: £125Concessions: £105

Website

Getting it there in One Piece: Museum Courier Training

10 November 2017 10:30am-4:30pm

The course will cover the different stages of the courier trip and best practice associated with courier work. It will look at the personal qualities required and how to mitigate risks to objects effectively and professionally.

Admission

Website

how to Run an Artist in Residence Programme

21 November 2017 10:30am-4:30pm

The course will focus on the practicalities of working with resident artists, from the fundraising stage to the selection process, the production of new work, displays, copyright, contracts and learning/public engagement programmes.

Admission

Price: £195Concessions: £175

Website

Everything You Want to Know about Jewellery

2 — 3 December 2017 11am-4pm

This course reveals the history of Western jewellery from late Antiquity till today and gives insight into the comprehensive collection of 3,500 jewels in the William and Judith Bollinger Jewellery Gallery. It will explore how fashions in dress determined what jewellery was worn and how international styles and art movements were inspirational for the designs. The course will also look at how changes in economy and society influenced the jewels worn and the personal messages of jewellery which accompanies the wearer through life and marks special occasions. Other than being adornment and symbols of status, jewels express devotion, grief, love and hope.

Suitable for

18+

Admission

£288 full price, £260 over 60s, £195 concessions

Website

Eduardo Paolozzi and the Influence of Childhood Cultures

20 — 21 January 2018 11am-4pm

Celebrate the playful incongruity of Eduardo Paolozzi’s work with childlike curiosity. Considering the influence of childhood cultures on his work, gain privileged access to the intriguing objects of Paolozzi’s ‘Krazy Kat Arkive’ at Blythe House as well as the evocative collections of both the V&A Museum of Childhood and V&A Prints and Drawing Room.

Suitable for

18+

Admission

£288 full price, £260 over 60s, £195 concessions

Website

Power and Prestige in 16th and 17th Century Mughal South Asia

3 — 4 February 2018 11am-4pm

Tracing their lineage from both Chinghis Khan and Timur, the Mughal dynasty (1526-1858) at its greatest extent ruled over the entire South Asian region and its rulers created one of the most luxurious empires of their time. As a Muslim elite reigning over a local South Asian population, it was important for the Mughal emperors to create a strong visual identity to aid in consolidating their rule.

Focusing on the reigns of three emperors, Akbar (r.1556-1605), Jahangir (r.1605-27) and Shah Jahan (r. 1628-58), this 2-day course will thematically explore how these rulers invested in extensive patronage of the arts in order to create and project a visual language of power and prestige. This took multiple forms, including the production of magnificent miniature paintings, iconic architecture and dazzling, bejewelled objects. By contextualising their creation within the political, historical and artistic milieu of the Mughal court, it will be seen that several factors were continuously in play in the wider sphere of their making.

Website

Display: architecture designed by and for deaf and disabled people

At the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the display will focus on the design of a number of different buildings that have been shaped by the needs of deaf and disabled people.

These include a deaf church, a medieval almshouse, a contemporary architect-designed private house for a disabled client, a new vision for a mental illness asylum, and items from the archive of pioneering disability activists Maggie and Ken Davis, whose determination and vision saw them successfully commission in the 1970s the first council housing that allowed disabled people to live independently outside of institutionalised care.

Part of the History of Place project, which will also be running exhibitions and displays at MShed in Bristol and the Museum of Liverpool.

Suitable for

Any age

Admission

FREE

Website

A History of Irish Art

10 March 2018 11am-4pm

Supported by contextual and historical information, this course will trace the history of Irish art from c.3300 BC to the present day. Covering a range of historical objects, paintings, manuscripts and sculptures such as the Book of Kells and Harry Clarke’s stained glass windows, it will also explore Ireland’s contribution to the wider art world including the origins of the phrase the “white cube”.

Ireland’s rich social and cultural heritage has been explored for millennia through the medium of art. Although most well-known for its contribution to the written word, this course will demonstrate the unique and fascinating history of Ireland’s artistic treasures. From the Stone Art of Newgrange, which pre dates the pyramids and Stonehenge, to the work of Jack B. Yeats, the artworks and objects discussed will provide a window into Ireland’s distinctive cultural identity.

Suitable for

18+

Admission

£288 full price, £260 over 60s, £195 concessions

Website

Art Glass and Glass Artists: Chemists, Craftsmen, Visionaries

21 — 22 April 2018 11am-4pm

Glass is one of the oldest man-made materials and certainly the most mysterious. Neither solid, liquid nor gas, neither crystal nor stone, it exists in a state of its own; smooth and hard, it is also fragile, fracturing to produce cutting edges of lethal sharpness. Glass can be colourless, transparent, brilliantly colourful or opaque depending on the precise balance of its chemical constituents; to be shaped it must be heated and reheated to extreme temperatures and as it cools it may shatter explosively without stringent precautions. Above all, worked glass is unpredictable: no two pieces will ever be identical, and what you think you placed in the kiln will rarely if ever come out exactly as you expected and planned. Glass is dangerous, difficult and glamorous; a combination which has fascinated craftsmen and artists, chemists and collectors throughout history.

Suitable for

18+

Admission

£288 full price, £260 over 60s, £195 concessions

Website

Menswear and Masculinities

12 — 13 May 2018 11am-4pm

By 2020, the global menswear industry is expected to be worth $33 billion. Referencing the V&A’s diverse collection of men’s clothing and dress accessories, unpick the social and political threads that hold the male wardrobe together, considering changing attitudes across the ages and into the future.

Thematic lectures that focus on suiting and shoes, cutting and colours will consider how and why attitudes to men’s dress have changed between the Middle Ages and modernity. Unravelling the complex relationship that men have with their clothing, the course will place current menswear trends in their social context and explore future possibilities for the menswear industry.

Make Your Own Thaumatrope

Wallpaper Design

Getting there

London Underground (The Tube): The V&A is a five minute walk from South Kensington underground station (on the Piccadilly, Circle and District Line). South Kensington is a five minute tube journey from Victoria, ten minutes from Covent Garden and Leicester Square and 15 minutes from King's Cross St Pancras.

The V&A is a ten minute walk from Knightsbridge underground station (on the Piccadilly Line). Knightsbridge is a ten minute tube journey from Covent Garden and Leicester Square and 15 minutes from Kings Cross St Pancras.

Bus: Buses C1, 14, 74 and 414 stop outside the Cromwell Road entrance. The Open Tour stop outside the Museum as part of their Double Decker Bus site-seeing tour of London.

Website

E-mail

Telephone

020 7942 2000

All information is drawn from or provided by the venues themselves and every effort is made to ensure it is correct. Please remember to double check opening hours with the venue concerned before making a special visit.

A custom-designed laser light show, unseen concert footage and construction pieces from the tours for The Dark Side of the Moon, The Wall and The Division Bell will feature in a major exhibition opening in 2017.